


We're the Worst Match

by Whorever



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Assassin Akira, F/F, F/M, M/M, Multi, detective akechi, detective ryuji, ryuji is a dad
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-11
Updated: 2018-04-18
Packaged: 2019-03-03 07:50:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,865
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13336707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Whorever/pseuds/Whorever
Summary: Everything in the universe was telling Akira to stay away from Ryuji, but once he had his eyes set on something, he always found a way to get it. Nothing was going to stop that. Not the constantly crying child of his, not Akira's extremely irritable boss,  not the opposing career choices they had and sure as hell not the partner that kept tabs on him like a hawk.  If Akira was willing to change diapers for this guy, he was willing to do anything.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Can you believe all I wanted to write was Ryuji taking care of a baby girl and it spiraled out of control into this mess? Me neither.

　　“What the hell is the difference between a receiving blanket and a burp cloth??” Akira groaned in frustration as he went through the scrambled directions on his phone. The wailing of the baby on the floor wasn’t helping his thought process any more as he struggled to find something to get her to stop crying. He shoved his phone in his pocket, and instead started to dig through the diaper bag that was sitting on his couch. She couldn’t have been hungry, she was fed right before she got dropped off. Akira shuffled through the many diapers packed away and went for her toys.

  
　　He scrambled towards the floor with the first one he found. “Here we go! A bunny! Look, look it makes noise when you shake it!” Akira rattled the toy in front of the red screaming face below him, hoping to get some relief from the wailing she was doing. Instead the baby smacked a hand at the rattle, and yelled even louder.

  
　　Akira threw his head back in frustration. Of course the rattle wasn’t going to work. “Okay, bunny isn’t your thing.” He looked over at the couch where the “babysitting” kit laid opened and rummaged. Rubbing his forehead, Akira pulled his phone out again and read over the texts sent to him. As much as he wanted to call, he knew he couldn’t do that unless it was an emergency.

  
　　 **[text]** Her favorite toys are packed. Bubsy helps her sleep or calm her down.

  
　　 **[text]** If she starts crying make sure she doesn’t need changed. I fed her at noon so she shouldn’t need her bottle until 3 or 4.

  
　 **[text]** make noise or play some music. Oh and cradle her too. I like to bounce her on my knee

  
　　 **[text]** make sure she drinks the full bottle when u feed her

  
　　 **[text]** also look at her. I guess babies get scared when they cant see u?

  
　　 **[text]** she might just keep crying tho sry man

  
　　 **[text]** receiving blankets are with the diapers i put the burp cloth in the front pocket

  
　　 **[text]** almost forgot!! she has a little rash so put the cream on when u change her

  
　 **[text]** but wait for her butt to dry first

  
**[text]** i think thats everything tho call me if ur having trouble i probably forgot something

  
　　“What the fuck is a Bubsy?” Akira questioned as he read over the messages. He would give anything right now to get this baby to stop crying. “Shh, shh, Hitomi please.” His voice was pleading as he brought a hand to rub her belly. She threw her head to the side, mouth wide and gummy as she continued to cry. Akira brought his head down to sniff her. She didn’t need changed, at least. She wasn’t hungry, she didn’t want the toy Akira gave her, what else could she want? The louder she got the more Akira felt like he should be the one crying. Taking in a breath, Akira decided to try cradling her. He brought Hitomi into his arms, positioning himself so that his back was against the couch and cupped her in his arms.

  
　　Her crying kept up, Akira rocking her and hushing her as best he could. Hitomi’s crying persisted but she finally started to slow down. He continued to hush her, wanting to sigh in relief when she eventually stopped. Her big eyes finally opened, staring up at Akira as the color started to come back to her face. He could almost call her cute.

  
　　“Oh thank god...” Akira mumbled to himself. He leaned over towards where he dropped his phone and picked it up, resting it on his thigh while he checked the time. “Oh my god I still have six hours left.”

  
　　“ba!” Hitomi gurgled as she kicked her legs up and down in Akira’s hold, eyes locked onto the face hovering over her. Akira let out a heavy sigh as he looked at her, wondering how the hell he was going to survive this night. It was the first time he was left alone with Hitomi and in any other circumstance, he would’ve laughed in the parents face if they asked him to babysit.

  
　　This was different though. Hitomi’s father had Akira pretty much to his will. His heart jumped just a bit thinking about him, eyes landing on the wall of texts he’d been sent. He stared at the screen while it went black, exhaustion starting to seep in from the energy he spent trying to get Hitomi to calm down.

  
　　Akira’s heart leaped in his chest when the screen on his phone shot up, the name “Ryuji” showing at the top. He reached a hand for it, trying to quickly answer it before the ring tone went off and set Hitomi off again.

  
　　“Hello?” He huffed, eyes staring down at the girl in anticipation for another crying fit.

  
　　 _“Hey man!”_ Ryuji’s voice rang in his ear, passing off as excited but Akira picked up on the bit of worry hidden in it. _“How’s it going?”_

  
　　“Fine,” He replied. “You on your lunch?”

  
　　 _“What? No,”_ Ryuji responded. _“I’m hanging out in the back. Figured I could sneak in a quick call.”_

  
　　“You worried I’m gonna kill your offspring?” Akira teased.

  
　　 _“Well when you refer to her like that, kinda.”_ Ryuji bounced right back. Akira laughed in response, listening to the background noise from the other end of the phone. _“So how’s she doin’? Everything going okay?”_

  
　　“Oh yeah, she’s an Angel,” Akira droned. “Was exactly how you left her when you dropped her off. Hasn’t made a peep.”

  
　　 _“Uh-huh.”_ There was some shuffling noise before Ryuji started talking again. _“Sounds like she really gave it to you.”_

  
　　“Oh you have no idea.” Ryuji’s laughter was the only sound Akira heard for a moment, and he swore he would do whatever he could to listen to that on repeat. His laughter died down and the two sat in silence for a brief moment. “Ryuji.” Akira started. “Stop worrying so much, I promise I’m taking care of her.”

  
　　There was a heavy sigh on the other end. _“I know, I know.”_ Ryuji paused, like he was trying to gather his thoughts. _“It’s just...This is the first time I’ve left Hitomi alone with someone other than Ma. I’ve been kinda freaking out about it at work.”_

  
　　“You wound me.” Akira pouted.

  
　　 _“It’s not you!”_ Ryuji was quick to defend. _“I’m just worried she’s gonna do somethin’ new and I won’t be there to help you know? Like what if she’s allergic to cats or something? Or her rash gets really bad? Or like, I don’t know she gets the shits?”_

  
　　Akira rolled his eyes. It was adorable how worried Ryuji was but he had to have some faith in him. “Well, I don’t have any pets. Her rash hasn’t gotten any worse and if she comes down with the shits, I’ll put her in a bucket and hose her off every now and then.”

  
　　 _“See now that worries me.”_

  
　　Akira found himself laughing which seemed to draw a chuckle from the man on the other end. He let out a sigh, bringing a finger towards Hitomi and smiling at the way her tiny hand clutched onto it. “I got this, alright?” He stated in an attempt to ease Ryuji’s worry. “Now unless you’re getting off earlier and calling to inform me of the good news, stop slacking and get back to work.”

  
_“You’re not even gonna let me talk to her?”_

  
　　“Why? It’s not like she’ll understand you anyway.” Akira said dismissively. “Now get back to work.”

  
　　 ** _“Fine.”_** Ryuji huffed. The phone call ended with a loud beep, Akira setting it back on his thigh as he readjusted the girl in his arms. Bringing her towards his shoulder, he had to take a moment to appreciate the silence. She’d been crying for so long, it amazed him at how quiet his apartment could get.

  
　　Akira’s eyes went wide at the sound of his phone going off a second time. The ringtone played loudly and did exactly what he had feared when Ryuji called. Hitomi immediately erupted in tears, throwing her tiny head into Akira’s shoulder as the melody kept playing. “No, no, no, no,” Akira tried hushing her as he reached for his phone but it didn’t quiet her any.

  
　　“Hello?” He answered without looking at the name on screen.

  
　 _“....What the hell is that?”_ Akira felt his entire body deflate when he recognized the voice of his boss on the other end. _“Is that a baby? Where are you?”_

  
　　“I’m at home, and yes it is.” Akira replied. “I just got her to stop crying and then you had to go and call.”

  
　　 _“Yeah well pass her off to someone else, I got a job for you.”_

  
　　“What?”Akira snorted. “It has to be done right now?”

  
_“Yeah. In two hours and 22 minutes actually.”_

  
　　Akira blinked, quiet for a moment as Hitomi continued to scream in his ear. “What?”

  
　　 _“Jesus christ Akira, lay that thing down and step outside or something.”_

  
　　Akira rolled his eyes but his boss had a point. He set his phone down on the couch and the stood up with Hitomi sobbing at him. There she was being all ugly again. Akira took her towards the small portable play-pen looking crib thing Ryuji left him with and set her inside. He let out a heavy sigh and moved back to retrieve his phone and then walked towards his bedroom.

  
　　“Iwai,” Akira started. “I really don’t think I can do whatever it is you’ve got planned.”

  
_“You don’t get to tell me when you’re free and when you’re not. I basically own you, remember?”_

  
　　Akira sighed into the phone, knowing better than to argue with him if he was going to go that route. “...What’s the job?”

  
_“Kobayakawa. He’s a principal at Shujin academy.”_

  
　　“What?” Akira huffed. “I have to drop everything I’m doing for a _principal_?”

  
　　 _“Yeah, you do.”_ Iwai snapped at him. _“He’s holding a mandatory ceremony after school to announce his early retirement and then he’s making a move to flee the country.”_

  
　　“The hell did this guy do?”

  
　　 _“I’ll spare you the details. Your best window is going to be right after the ceremony lets out and he makes a leave for his office. Act like a student or something to see him and stage a suicide. Same requirements needed as any other hit, got it?”_

  
　　“Yeah.” Akira replied. “Ceremony starts in two hours?”

  
　　 _“That’s right. I can count on you for this, right?”_

  
　　Akira hesitated, listening to the droned out wails coming from Hitomi in the other room. “Yeah.” He said with unease. Iwai either chose to ignore it or didn’t catch it.

  
　　 _“Good... Now what the fuck are you doing with a kid?”_

  
　　“Don’t worry about it, alright?”

  
　　 _“You’re giving me plenty o’ reason to worry. That ain’t yours, is it?”_ Iwai questioned.

  
　　“Yeah I adopted a baby cause I'm having a midlife crisis and I had hopes of it filling the endless void in my life. Turns out all babies are good for are keeping you awake.”

  
　　There was a pained breath on the other line before Iwai responded. _“You know what? Forget I asked. Just get the job done.”_ He ended the call before Akira could get a reply in. Akira pulled his phone away from his ear, staring down at it as the screen turned black. How in the hell was he going to take care of the principal and handle Hitomi as well?

* * *

  
　　  
　　“Principal Kobayakawa hm...” A young detective stood in the doorway of Shujin’s office, hand to his chin in thought as he stared at the scene before him. He watched as his partner took pictures of the scene with their camera, crouched by the desk to get a shot with all the blood.

  
　　His partner stood up, letting the camera hang from his neck as he turned to face him. The man by the doorway hummed to himself, his shaggy brown hair falling in his face. “Ryuji,” He started, grabbing his partner’s attention. “You’re quiet.”

  
　　“Sorry,” He shrugged a shoulder. “This is where I went to school y’know? Weird seeing my ol’ principal sittin’ in a pool of his own blood.”

  
　　“Is that so? I didn’t know that.”

  
　　Ryuji looked towards his partner and clicked his tongue, recognizing how deep in thought he was. “You think it’s actually suicide?”

  
　　“...” His partner was quiet, leaving Ryuji’s question in the air.

  
　　“Akechi?”

  
　　“Ryuji, can you go over what we’ve established so far?”

  
　　The blond rolled his eyes and sighed, but did as asked of him. “Kobayakawa’s daily routine didn’t change at all. Came to school same time he always did, walked the halls, ate his lunch, walked some more, then spent the last two periods in his office. Nothing different from any other day.” Ryuji went into his breast pocket, pulling out the notepad he kept there but rarely ever used. Flipping through it, he looked at the notes he’d taken when talking with the staff. “According to the lady that found him, he held his retirement assembly and then returned to his office to finish up the last of his work. She mentioned him appearing nervous, but other than that he seemed normal. Found his body in the office half an hour later when she went to bring him some papers.”

  
　　“And there are no cameras in any of the rooms here, correct?”

  
　　“Nothin’ but the hallways.”

  
　　“Do we have footage of the last person seen entering his office?”

  
　　Ryuji shook his head. “The cameras only have view of the entrance to the teacher’s lounge. Isn’t anything in between them.” He explained, though he knew Akechi had to assumed that, considering they had to go through the teacher’s lounge to get to his office. “I asked the secretary who was working if she remembered anyone new or suspicious going to see him, but she just said a handful of students stopped in to say bye.” Ryuji watched as Akechi’s eyebrows scrunched together in thought. Only thing that could mean was he was finding something deeper than what was laid out in front of him.

  
　　Ryuji’s eyes followed where Akechi was staring, watching as the coroner draped a sheet over Kobayakawa’s body. The coroner stood to talk with someone from the CSI department, making idle chit-chat with them. Ryuji huffed as he thought over the situation. “Why the hell would a guy want to kill himself right after announcing to the whole freakin’ school he was leaving?” He thought aloud. “Think if you were gonna do somethin’ like that, you’d do it somewhere more personal.”

  
　　“My thoughts exactly.” Akechi agreed. “Perhaps he didn’t have the time to make it home.” The brunette pulled his attention away from the scene and chewed his lip. “What’s really bothering me is why a principal would feel the need to keep a pistol in his desk at a school like this.”

  
　　“Yeah.”

  
　　“Hey jailbaits!” The two investigators were interrupted by the voice of another worker approaching them. They both groaned in unison at the CSI plastered onto the man’s windbreaker, the name ‘Kamoshida’ etched upon the breast.. “You can put away your detective toys, case is closed. Our team did a run on the serial number on the gun and its under his name.” The older man smirked at the pair. “We’re closin’ it as a suicide.” Kamoshida whooped and patted the back of his partner aggressively, snapping his gloves off and moving to pack up their equipment.

  
　　Ryuji glared after him, his jaw locked tight. “I fucking _hate_ that guy.” He hissed, trying to shake off his anger.

  
　　Akechi dismissed the interaction. “For once I agree with you.” He sighed as he took a final look over the crime scene. “C’mon. Let’s get back to the station and get this one filed.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all the great feedback on the first chapter! I was so surprised at all the comments, but it got me excited to post again and I ended up with a whole new chapter in front of me before I knew it! I'm excited to hear more from you guys <3

　　“ _‘You ever bring a knife to a gun fight?’_ No but I’ve brought a baby! Brought a literal infant to a _murder!_ ” Akira paced around the living room in his apartment, dragging his hands through his hair as his nerves shot up. Hitomi was laying on her stomach on a mat, hand swatting at nothing and giggling. Akira shot his attention to her and then dropped to the floor beside her. “You’re not gonna be like, traumatized from this are you? You’re a baby, you can’t remember anything right?”

  
　　Her big blue eyes locked onto his, mouth hanging open. Drool dangled from her lower lip, her expression looking completely blank. She squeaked at Akira reaching a hand up to him.

  
　　Akira raised a brow at her, completely unamused. “Yeah, I’m freaking out over nothing.” He let out a huff of air and scooped Hitomi up into his arms. “C’mon I’m pretty sure I actually have to feed you now.”

  
　　He took her to the couch and plopped down next to the diaper bag, digging into it and pulling out a cooler where the bottles were stored. He picked up a bottle and then set it next to him. “Okay, I got this.” Akira mumbled to himself. He’d seen Ryuji do it plenty of times, this should be easy. He cradled Hitomi in his arm and then reached for the bottle with his free hand. Akira hesitated, staring down at Hitomi with suspicion. “I’m doing something wrong, I can feel it.”

  
　　Second guessing himself, Akira ended up pulling his phone out and googling ‘How to Feed a Baby’, skimming over what was written. “Okay so I’m doing everything fine.” He shook his head trying to dismiss his self doubt and then brought the bottle to Hitomi. Ryuji let Akira feed her before but it’d always been when he had started and then just passed the girl off to him. He didn’t know why but it felt much different starting her off then taking over for her father.

  
　　Hitomi’s hands went straight to the sides of the bottle as it got close to her, mouth latching onto the nipple. A second later she released it and started crying, formula spilling all onto her face. Akira’s face scrunched up in confusion. “Why would you do that?” He questioned, rushing into the bag for something to wipe Hitomi off with. Her crying stopped almost as fast as it started, gurgling as Akira brought the cloth over her mouth to pick up all the spilled formula. “You wanna try this again and not make my life a living hell?”

  
　　Second attempt and Hitomi didn’t even try to latch on. She wailed and smacked her hand against the bottle, clearly refusing to take it. Akira pulled it away, his shoulders slouching as he stared down at her. He immediately turned to the cooler the bottles had been in. “Are there different flavors or something?” He pulled each bottle up to look over but they all looked exactly the same. There weren’t any notes or labels or anything like that for him to tell.

  
　　Akira tried a third time, hoping it was just Hitomi being picky, but she reacted worse, leaving the man even more confused. He set the bottle down and went back to his phone, searching for reasons why she might not be eating. “Run it under hot water?” He read aloud. Akira groaned to himself, pushing off the couch and into his kitchen. He knocked the handle upward, running his hand under the water as he waited for the heat to kick in. Hitomi gurgled in his hold, reaching a hand out for his shirt and pulling it into her mouth.

  
　　Akira guessed at how long to hold the bottle under the water for, hoping a solid couple of minutes was going to be enough. “Hey-! Get my shirt outta your mouth.” He hissed, pulling it away from her and trying once again for the bottle. Hitomi struggled, but once she got her lips latched to the bottle, she started taking it with no fuss.

  
　　Akira glared at her. “You are such a little shit you know that?” Only reason she had been crying was because it wasn’t warm enough for her? Babies were too picky.

  
　　He walked her slowly back to the couch, making sure to be careful as he sat down. It felt like his body was sucked in by the cushions, struggling to keep his eyes open with how exhausted he was. He anticipated exhaustion from watching a baby for a solid seven hours, but he didn’t expect to have to deal with such a short windowed hit on top of it.

  
　　“I can’t believe I brought a baby with me to a murder.” He scolded himself, shaking his head. “I think it would’ve been safer to just leave you home alone, huh?” Akira looked down at Hitomi, her big eyes staring up at him. “You made a good distraction though, I’ll give you that.” Akira pulled the bottle from her, moving her to his shoulder and lightly patting her back. Ryuji had emphasized how important it was to burp her before he handed her over, something Akira would’ve definitely not done had he not pointed it out. He expected the worst, figured Hitomi would spit up all over his shoulder or start crying in his ear again, but a single solid burp escaped her and he was back to giving her the rest of her bottle.

  
　　Okay so he might not have been able to do a lot of things correctly, but he could at least handle feeding a baby. Akira watched her as she smacked her lips, her hands going right into her mouth and chewing on her tiny little fist. The tufts of black hair on the top of her head were messy but cute. He actually found her _cute_.

  
　　Akira let out a yawn, trying to force himself to get off the couch and lay her down. His body protested when he moved, joints popping as he stood up. “Let’s get you a nap before your papa comes to get you.”

  
　　Akira laid her down and after convincing himself that everything was fine, he came back to the couch and all but threw himself into. “Oh my god...” He huffed in relief. She wasn’t crying, he didn’t have to hold her, and Ryuji would be coming to get her in almost two hours. Hopefully she would be sleeping up until he came.

  
　　Until then, Akira was just going to lay there on the couch and contemplate why anyone in their right mind would leave him alone with a kid.

* * *

  
　　  
　　Hitomi didn’t stay sleeping until Ryuji got there. She woke up maybe close to an hour into her nap and laid in her mini crib kicking her feet and making noises until she eventually started crying. Akira took her out, spent twenty minutes trying to get her to stop and after struggling with changing her, got her to quiet down with a fresh diaper and some of the toys Ryuji had packed. He didn’t understand how Ryuji said they were her favorites when Hitomi clearly wanted nothing to do with the bunny rattle. All she wanted was the mini blanket that had a sheep at the top with crackling ears. He had to admit though there was something relaxing about fidgeting with the ears and listening to them crackle.

  
　　Hitomi chewed on the ends of the ears, little fists getting caught in the crossfire as well. Akira watched her for a moment, leaning against the plastic pen. He felt like the second he moved away, she was going to start crying again.

  
　　His doorbell went off, interrupting his thoughts and filling Akira with a whole new range of excitement. “Oh please be Ryuji.” He begged, thinking it felt way overdue for him to be coming to pick her up.

  
　　He rushed to the door faster than he probably should have, unlocking it and twisting the knob to pull it open. When he spotted the bright blond hair and growing smile, his heart jumped in excitement and body deflated in relief.

  
　　Ryuji stood there in his black slacks and black t-shirt (probably his uniform or something. Akira didn’t have the faintest idea where he worked.) arms slightly out like he was presenting himself as a gift. “I made it.” He greeted.

  
　　"Thank God." Akira stepped to the side to let him in, watching him kick off his shoes and glance around the apartment. He couldn’t hold back the smirk on his face at the way Ryuji so obviously needed to see his baby. He nodded towards the living room. “She’s in the crib thing.”

  
　　Ryuji’s eyes locked onto it and immediately moved for her. As soon as his face came into Hitomi’s view, her eyes seemed to light up, feet and fists kicking up and down excitedly. “Hey there, pumpkin.” He cooed, leaning into the crib and scooping her up. She squeaked in response, clearly excited about being reunited with her father. Ryuji held her outward, examining her in an obviously over the top way. “No signs of any injuries... Clean diaper... Isn’t crying...” He brought his eyes to Akira and passed him a smile. “Gotta say I woulda thought you’d done at least one thing wrong.”

  
　　Well, he did but he wasn’t going to say that. “What kind of person do you take me for?” Akira replied, heading towards the kitchen. He listened in as Ryuji baby-talked to Hitomi, his heart twisting at how cute it was to see him treating her with such love. “Want something to drink?” He called out.

  
　　There wasn’t a response for a moment, Akira cracking open his fridge to see what he had in there. “Whaddya got?” Ryuji responded appearing at the entrance of his kitchen with Hitomi on his hip.

  
　　Akira pulled out two of the only beer he had, holding the bottles up for him to see the label. Ryuji seemed indifferent about the type as he looked it over. “Unless you want some left over red wine from a precious attempt at cooking.”

  
　　The blond rolled his eyes and laughed. “Just give me a beer.” Akira twisted the cap off and passed it to him. “Hell knows I’ve been needing this.” Ryuji huffed under his breath as he took it from him. Hitomi reached out for the bottle but immediately became interested in something else when Ryuji brought it away from her and to his lips.

  
　　Akira cocked an eyebrow at him, twisting the lid off his own bottle. “Bad day?” He asked before taking a sip. Ryuji moved from the kitchen and headed for the couch, gently sitting down, but slouching into it with Hitomi on his stomach. Seeing him like that, he looked completely exhausted.

  
　　Akira followed him out, choosing the chair adjacent to his couch to sit in. Honestly he would’ve rather sat down right next to Ryuji and pass out using some part of him as a pillow but there were boundaries and he had to keep that in mind at all times. Ryuji shot him a look in response to his question that screamed ‘you have no idea’ to him. “Fuckin’ rough towards the end of it.”

  
　　“Oh yeah?”

  
　　“Yup.” He huffed out, resting his hand on Hitomi’s back. She immediately started to chew on her fist, drool covering her small digits. Akira thought the blond was going to divulge what happened, but he moved on from the subject. “You talk to Ann at all recently?”

  
　　“Little bit,” Akira shrugged. “Sends me updates and stuff.”

  
　　“How’s she doing?”

  
　　Akira raised an eyebrow at him. “You can ask her yourself you know.”

  
　　Ryuji rolled his eyes looking frustrated at the thought. “I’ve tried dude, I’m tellin’ ya. She’s ignoring the shit out of me.”

  
　　“Well,” Akira paused to take a drink. “She did just have a child and then sign the rights off, she might be going through some shit.”

  
　　Ryuji brought himself upright in his seat, careful of Hitomi as he did so. “Yeah but why can’t she come to me with that shit, huh? Always used to before and now she’s acting like she never knew me.”

  
　　“I mean...” Akira started, contemplating saying what he had planned. “To be fair, last time she went to you, she ended up cheating and getting knocked up.”

  
　　“Shiho dumped her, it wasn’t cheating.” Ryuji defended. Akira looked off to the side making a face that seemed to disagree with his statement. Ryuji stared at him in disbelief. “You really think it was cheating?”

  
　　Akira sucked in a breath really not wanting to get into this topic but deciding to share his opinion anyway. “I think...” He paused, cupping his beer in his lap. “That there’s this sort of unspoken 48 hour rule where even after a person gets dumped, they’re not _really_ available until after 48 hours from the time of dumpage.”

  
　　“Oh is that how that works?” Sarcasm laced his tone as he took a drink of his beer.

  
　　Akira shrugged, fanning a hand at him. “Doesn’t matter now, does it?” He brought a hand to his chin, grinning at Ryuji. “What I’m more interested in is how much alcohol I have to give you to end up in my bed.”

  
　　“Is that what this was for?” Ryuji questioned, playing along with Akira as he held up his bottle. He shrugged and took a longer drink from it. Akira chuckled in response, brushing off the little twist his heart did. Their conversation fell, Ryuji resting his head against the back of the couch while Akira watched him. He really looked exhausted and it was showing more and more the longer he sat there. The poor guy needed to take a weekend off and just relax.

  
　　But that also meant finding someone to watch Hitomi and Akira was not going to volunteer an  _entire_ weekend for that.

  
　　“Ugh, I need to move but I don’t want to.” Ryuji groaned.

  
　　“So don’t.” It slipped out of Akira’s mouth almost immediately, his desire to be around the blond a little dangerous at times. “Hitomi’s got enough shit here for you to stick around, right?”

  
　　Ryuji turned his head to look over at the diaper bag like he was seriously debating it. “Dude I stick around any longer and I’m gonna pass out.”

  
　　“I’m fine with that.” Akira chuckled.

  
　　“Of course you are.” Ryuji let out a yawn and looked down at the baby girl on her chest. “Lookit you being so quiet.” He commented, Hitomi staring at her surroundings with her fist still lodged in her mouth. A puddle of drool had made its way over her hand and onto Ryuji’s shirt but he looked far too used to it by that point. He moved his hand from her back and up to brush the bits of strands from her forehead. Hitomi bounced to the touch, moving her head to try and look up at her father. She babbled at him, making noises through her fist and unintentionally making bubbles out of her drool. Ryuji chuckled, finally deciding to peel himself off the couch and make an attempt to leave.

  
　　Akira watched with a pained expression at the effort Ryuji had to put into resting Hitomi on his hip and moving to pack up her things. “You sure you don’t want to stay?” He offered again.

  
　　“Nah, you don’t know how rough it gets to sleep with this monster.” Ryuji declined. He set his beer down on the coffee table and walked over to Hitomi’s pen. As soon as he made the motion to set her inside, Hitomi immediately started to kick in protest, spouting out nonsense as she looked ready to cry. “Shh, shh, it’s just for a minute Mi-mi.” She didn’t even hesitate to erupt into tears the second Ryuji set her in the pen, arms stretched outward in hopes of being held again.

  
　　Ryuji crushed those hopes of hers as he turned away, running a hand through his already disheveled hair and moving towards the diaper bag. Akira winced a bit at the mess he’d made of it, the contents of it mostly spilled out and all over the place. Ryuji didn’t seem the slightest bit phased by it, picking up things and throwing them inside.

  
　　Akira got up to help, figuring it was the least he could do. He was a little bummed he couldn’t talk the blond into passing out on his couch, but that didn’t stop him from being eternally grateful to see Hitomi gone.

  
　　It took a minute to get everything packed up, and an even longer minute to watch Ryuji struggle to carry it all. He was determined and after a moment of puzzling her things together, he finally got it. Letting out a huff he moved for the door, turning to say goodbye.

  
　　Akira was watching him in anticipation for something to fall apart or drop or god forbid lose his grip on Hitomi. Ryuji laughed at his face, shaking his head. “It works, okay? I carry her shit like this all the time to Ma’s.”

  
　　Akira brought a hand to his mouth, looking more worried. “You’re not taking the trains home like that though, right?”

  
　　“I learned my lesson the first time I tried that. People either hate or love babies.” He shook his head, getting away from that thought before it worked him up. Ryuji mentally recounted to make sure he had everything, Akira laughing when he caught him mumbling the list to himself and _baby_ had been one of them. He decided on not pointing it out that. “Alright. I’m finally freeing you of this monster.”

  
　　Akira gave a half shrug. “Eh, she wasn’t _that_ bad.”

  
　　“Wanna watch her tonight for me then?” Ryuji joked.

  
　　“Oh, no, no, no.” Akira laughed. “I need a full recharge before I can watch her again.”

  
　　Ryuji smiled in response, genuinely appreciating his comment. It took Akira a moment to understand why, but he figured it was the idea of being open to babysitting again that made him look so relieved. “Thanks a ton for this by the way.” Ryuji started. “I couldn’t believe how much it was gonna cost for a sitter.”

  
　　“Those sitters are robbin’ people blind.” Akira clicked his tongue, shaking his head.

  
　　“Yeah,” Ryuji shrugged his shoulder to keep the diaper bag’s strap from slipping off it. “I owe you for this though. Ma was about to take a sick day at work and that would’ve hurt.”

  
　　“I think your mom needs to get a better job...”

  
　　“Ain’t nothing around that lets her be so flexible with her hours.” He dropped the subject, turning for the door for real that time. “I’ll see you later.”

  
　　“Yeah,” Akira followed him to the door, ready to lock it behind him. “Lemme know next time you’re free so I can buy you a real drink.”

  
　　Ryuji chuckled in response. “Sounds good.”

* * *

  
　　  
　　Ryuji found himself struggling to keep his eyes open at work. There hadn’t been hardly any calls today and Akechi and him hadn’t been sent out once. They were both stuck to their desks, looking at old case files and closing out new ones. Ryuji stared down at the paperwork in front of him, rereading the same line repeatedly as he struggled to focus.

  
　　Akechi had his leg propped across his knee, leaning back in his chair as he chewed the end of his pen in thought. Whatever file he was reading seemed to interest him. Letting out a sigh, the brunette pulled his pen away from his lips and took a peek at the blond next to him. He raised an eyebrow as Ryuji’s head started to slip from his propped hand. It was tempting to tease him, but Akechi refrained. Instead he tapped the blond’s shoulder and chuckled at the way he jolted in his seat. Ryuji blinked rapidly, trying to wake himself up. “Your daughter keep you up?”

  
　　“Oh you have no idea.” Ryuji slurred, rubbing his eyes. “I don’t think I actually got any sleep last night.” He attempted to bring his attention towards the file in front of him but the focus wasn’t there.

  
　　Akechi nodded like he understood. “Well there’s always coffee.”

  
　　“I hate coffee.” Ryuji replied.

  
　　“What a shame,” Akechi sighed putting his own file down, but keeping his eyes on it. “I was even going to offer to grab it for you.”

  
　　“How nice,” Ryuji dropped the file he had and flopped back against his chair. “Is boss watching us?”

  
　　“As we speak.”

  
　　“Ughhhh” Ryuji groaned. He had hopes of trying to sneak in a nap but their desks were set right in the line of sight of their captains office. The only time the door was ever closed was if he was holding a meeting with someone.

  
　　“You know,” Akechi started with a suggestive tone. “There is this really nice broken desk in the files room that has the perfect hiding spot for a nap.” Ryuji rolled his head to the side, passing a look to Akechi that seemed to question his words. Akechi looked up from his task and closed his file shut. “And it seems I’ve just finished my work on this file. Perhaps you could go back there and file it for me, even though I know the box it should go in is sitting at Mishima’s desk. Wouldn’t be weird at all for you to take a while considering I opted to not inform you of its proper location.”

  
　　Ryuji just stared at Akechi knowing he should take caution to favors like that from him but he didn’t have the energy to care. He snatched the file from Akechi and stood, making his way to the files room and pulling his phone up to set an alarm so he didn’t sleep too long. “I owe you,” He thanked as he passed through the desks.

  
　　Akechi smiled to himself, reaching across his desk to grab at the file that Ryuji had been struggling with. He sat back in his seat, pen to his mouth again as he read over the case in his hand. “Hm,” Akechi hummed to himself. “Illegal possession of firearms seems to be quite common these days.” He reviewed the piece, checking for any errors or updates, and then set it off the side when he completed it. He let out a sigh, looking around at the office. Makoto and Mishima were both out investigating a case, and the boss' daughter was actually sticking to her area in the Computer Forensics department. With Ryuji off taking a nap and those three gone, the office started to feel rather foreign.   


      He glanced to the people that were left here, Hifumi flipping through her own manila folder, and others that Akechi honestly never bothered to get to know. Hifumi's partner reminded him of a dying battery. He moved slow, he talked slow, he processed everything so slowly. Akechi wondered how the girl had so much patience. Maybe she enjoyed the silence of her partner, lord knowing Akechi rarely got any of that. Well...He was getting more of it now that Ryuji had a kid to suck all the energy out of him.   


     Akechi sat upright in his chair, wheeling himself closer to his desk. Yesterday they had their hands full with investigations, that suicide at the high school really making their day end on a low note. It still bothered the detective how the whole thing had happened, the biggest question he had was why on earth Kobayakawa felt the need to have gun in his office. Even if he had a permit--which supposedly he did--carrying a gun in the office of a school was against a handful of regulations. He would've had to transport his gun to and from his office to get away with passing the home inspection for carrying a gun. He rubbed at his chin, thinking more in depth about what happened yesterday. There wouldn't be any need for a forensics analysis since it was already closed out as a suicide, but he still wondered if the bullet wound would've lined up with a self inflicted shot. Akechi clicked his tongue in thought, turning to his computer and logging in to look at yesterdays files.   


    "Oh, Ryuji you actually uploaded the photos like you were supposed to." He mumbled to himself, pulling up the images and looking over the bloody mess. He enlarged the one with the best shot of the bullet wound, staring at the way it blasted through the back of his skull. Akechi let out a small huff. He was knowledgeable in a lot of areas, but trying to figure out if the bullet wound lined up with where Kobayakawa would've held it to himself was not a talent of his. Closing out the images, he decided to do a little more digging, pulling up information on what was found on him and responses from people interviewed. None of it really stood out to him, but he couldn't shake the feeling that there was something they were missing. "He announced his retirement for what purpose...?" Akechi questioned. He skimmed through the lists of evidence, eyes catching on a new piece of information he didn't know about previously. "What is this...?" He murmured to himself, reading the line documented in his file. It was listed that he had a printed out Itinerary for a flight with a destination outside of the country. Akechi's face scrunched up in thought on what that meant. "A ceremony to announce his retirement and a ticket for a flight afterwards to leave the country. It's almost like he knew he was in--"  


    Akechi cut off his thoughts, eyes widening at the conclusion he was coming to. This could end up being something big if his gut was right, and nine times out of ten it usually was. Closing out of the information on his computer, he stood from his desk and grabbed the file he double checked earlier. Akechi had some intuition but Ryuji's gut held stronger feelings that his did. While he'd never listen to him if his own thoughts told him otherwise, Ryuji's opinions could sometimes turn out to be rather valuable to the detective and right now he felt it was worth interrupting his nap to receive it.   
  
   


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> boy what a shit show this fic is gonna be

“Wait...Wait, what?” Ryuji was rubbing the sleep from his eye, yawning as he tried to focus on the information Akechi had dropped on him. He was pushing himself upright on the desk he’d fallen asleep on top of. “Run that by me again?”

  
“Kobayakawa.” Akechi started. “They found a ticket for a one way flight out of Japan on him that was scheduled to take off about two hours after his retirement speech.”  
Ryuji stared at Akechi blankly for a moment, shaking his head and patting his face lightly to try and wake up. “Wait...”

  
Akechi was quiet, patiently waiting for the blond’s brain to wake up and start processing what he was saying. He stared, watching the cogwheels start to turn in the blond’s mind before a certain light hit his eyes and Akechi started to nod in encouragement.

  
“Oh my god,” Ryuji blinked. “You think he was trying to flee from someone?”

  
“Or something, but yes.” Akechi pushed a hand against Ryuji’s legs to make room for him as he took a seat on top of the damaged desk. “I was looking through what we had on file from yesterday and the ticket was listed in there for a flight to Indonesia.”

  
Ryuji hummed to himself in thought. “One way ticket to a place like Indonesia...People usually go there for hiding from some kind of crime they’ve committed, don’t they?”  
“Well, not so much Indonesia as other places like Venezuela.”

  
“Yeah but Kobayakawa wouldn’t have survived in a place like Venezuela if he was fleeing from something.” Ryuji pointed out. It might’ve been a few years since he’d graduated High school but he still remembered that principal being rather spineless. “What the hell would he have been running from?”

  
“That’s what I want to know.” Akechi questioned. “And I don’t know about you but I’m not completely sold on him properly owning that gun.”

  
“Yeah, he never mentioned anything about hunting the few times I talked to him.” Ryuji shrugged dismissively afterwards. “Then again who would go around telling their students that?” He let out a sigh, stretching his arms above his head while Akechi eyed him.

  
“Maybe not his students, but probably coworkers. And from the few I talked to, none of them knew anything about him owning a gun.” The two fell into a silence, both contemplating the information that Akechi brought to attention. They were interrupted by the sound of the door opening, Akechi jumping to his feet while Ryuji stayed still, looking to see who was coming in.

  
Hifumi stepped in with a handful of files, jumping when she noticed the pair. “Oh!” She squeaked. “Oh my--am I interrupting something? I apologize I didn’t mean to--” Her face turned red, looking confused on whether she should leave the room or not.

  
Ryuji cocked an eyebrow to her reaction while Akechi shot her a smile. “No need for apologies. We were discussing some things in relation to a case we’re working on.”  
“I...In the files room?” Hifumi stammered, relaxing only slightly.

  
“Of course,” Akechi stated confidently. “Ryuji thought he was being slick by sleeping on that desk, but I figured I’d come and ruin that for him.”

  
Ryuji shot a look to Akechi, glaring at him for making it out to be like it was his idea. Hifumi passed a smile to the pair, a soft chuckle escaping her as she stepped in with her own stack of work.

  
“We’ll get out of the way for you, I think he was just about done with his nap.”

  
“You are such an ass.” Ryuji hissed at him under his breath as he pushed himself off the desk. He got a decent amount of sleep he guessed, but it would’ve been nice to get more. Akechi stepped out of the way as Hifumi moved in to put her work where it belonged. Ryuji sulked after him, stepping to the brunettes side when they made their way back to the desks, mind going back to Kobayakawa.

  
“Kobayakawa’s death was already ruled as a suicide, how’re we gonna get permission to open the case up again?” He questioned.

  
“Well, that’s the easy part.” Akechi smiled, moving to his desk. He hovered over his keys and typed away, pulling up the information he mentioned. “All we have to do is give captain a good enough reason to look into it and he should let us no problem.”

  
“A ticket to Indonesia is a good enough reason?”

  
“I have suspicions on another thing as well, but I’ll need to get permission to have his corpse looked at if it’s still around.”

  
Ryuji leaned against Akechi’s desk, figuring they were going to pay a visit to the Captain’s office once he got what he needed off the computer. “Alright, even if we got enough information to go back and review this case, we don’t have anything on who could’ve done this.” The blond pointed out. “We get this case open and then what? Go back to the school?”

  
“I’m sorry, is Ryuji Sakamoto being cautious with me?” Akechi feigned offense, standing upright as the printer hooked up to his computer hummed to life. Ryuji rolled his eyes to the brunettes tone, too tired to give him any kind of retort. “I have to say I’m a little disappointed. For someone with the nickname Bolt, I thought you’d be quick to jump into this.”

  
“Don’t call me that.” Ryuji sighed, watching Akechi as he grabbed the papers he printed and stepped away from his desk. Ryuji pushed away from his place, following Akechi towards their captain’s office.

  
The brunette stopped at the door, bringing a hand to lightly knock on the wood to get the man’s attention. “Captain Sakura?” Akechi called out.

  
Their captain sat at his desk, laptop placed slightly crooked in the center of it and a warm cup of coffee in his hands. There was a lingering smell of smoke in the room, something that followed the man where ever he went. It wasn’t enough to be smoldering, as the strong smell of coffee carried with it as well. He looked up from whatever he’d been reading to shoot a look at the intruders to his office. “Sakamoto, I was starting to think you might’ve gotten lost.”

  
“Uh,” Ryuji cleared his throat, trying to straighten his posture as he spoke. “Sorry Akechi had me trying to file something that wasn’t even-”

  
“-Save it.” Captain Sakura--or Sojiro as his daughter liked to refer to him as--interrupted the blond before he could finish his excuse. “What could you two have possibly come up with to try and get out of desk duty?”

  
Akechi stepped into the office, Ryuji behind him. “Sir, we’d like to get permission to look further into the case we received yesterday.”

  
“The one with the principal that off’d himself?” Sojiro summarized, looking over his glasses at the pair. “Crimes unit already took over that and closed it out, why do you want to look into it?”

  
Akechi stepped around the desk to show the papers he’d printed out, pointing at the list of evidence they had. “This specifically is a red flag that it could’ve been an inside job. He had a flight planned to depart two hours after his speech but was found dead in his office an hour and a half before it would’ve departed. The gun was licensed back to him, but what on earth would a principal be doing carrying a firearm to and from his place of employment?” Akechi flipped to the next page, an image of the weapon where it was found centering it. “This man never spoke of having a hunting hobby, and even if he did what would a pistol do for him when out for sport?”

  
“You’ve never been out hunting before, have you? “ Sojiro replied, eyeing the taller of the two.

  
Akechi hesitated, his confidence slipping slightly. “Well...no.”

  
The captain looked between Ryuji and Akechi and then leaned back in his chair. He gave them a moment to see if they’d come up with something else and when neither of them spoke he cleared his throat. “So the two of you want to go out on a wild goose chase for some information because of a plane ticket, and a feeling about a gun?”

  
Ryuji ran his hand through his hair knowing that tone was not the one they where hoping for. “Yessir.” He answered.

  
Sojiro stared at the pair for a long moment before turning back to his computer and taking a sip of his coffee. He set the mug down and rubbed his chin. “I’ll give you until tomorrow to come up with more concrete evidence than what you got. You guys don’t come up with anything, that’s it, you got it?” His voice was stern. “You don’t come up with something new and it’s closed. It’s done and over with, no arguing or any of that. Understood?”

  
“Yessir.” The pair said in unison.

  
Sojiro stared at them a moment longer. “And know the only reason I’m allowing this is because there ain’t shit going on today.” He lowered his voice, leaning forward in his chair. “Also because it’s bothered me a bit about how quick that ruling was.”

  
Akechi’s face lit up, opening his mouth to probably start questioning Sojiro’s thinking behind that but the captain held up a hand to stop him. The brunette blinked, the captain then pointing towards his door. The two took the hint and dismissed themselves from his office, both already excited to be off desk duty.

* * *

 

 

“Well.” Ryuji said with a pop of his lips. “I can’t tell if this is a good thing or a bad thing.”

  
“Good.”

  
“Good?”

  
“...Possibly.”

  
Ryuji nodded his head. “Ah, Possibly good.”

  
Akechi was deep in thought as the two stood in front of a worn down and closed gun shop. There were signs in the windows for leasing options, but the door had been boarded up. His face relaxed as he let out a sigh. “So this was were Kobayakawa’s gun was purchased, but if it no longer exists, we can’t trace back the records for it.”

  
“Which doesn’t sound good.”

  
“No, it doesn’t. But,” Akechi turned to look at his partner. “We can see when Kobayakawa received his gun license and compare it to when this shop closed down.”

  
“How’s that gonna help?” Ryuji questioned. “If he got it while this shop was open then we’ve got nothing.”

  
“Yes, but it’s not going to hurt to check.” Akechi pointed out.

  
Ryuji nodded, pulling out his phone from his pocket. He looked over at the leasing poster and punched the number in. Akechi continued to examine the building as the blond waited for an answer. A few rings in and a woman’s voice answered the phone.

  
“Hey, I’m calling about a building up for lease?” There was a pause as the woman spoke. “I was just wondering if you had time today to answer some questions about it.”

  
While Ryuji was on the phone, Akechi was examining the windows of the building, looking for any access to the inside. If the woman on the phone was trying to sell, she had to have access to it so it wouldn’t do him any good to force his way in. The leasing sign in the windows looked pretty old as well, so Akechi had to assume this place closed down well over a few years ago. He turned his attention back to the blond as he finished his phone call. “Anything?”

  
“She was free to talk until I mentioned the building.” Ryuji sighed. “After that suddenly she wasn’t available to show it until next week.”

  
“How odd,” Akechi started. “Makes you wonder if she has to check with someone first before showing this place to anyone.”

  
“Yeah,” Ryuji agreed. “Although if someone showed interest in a building this shitty, I’d want some time to prepare it the best I can.” The blond looked up at the title of the gun shop and then punched it into his phone, doing a quick search on the building. “This place closed down almost 15 years ago.”

  
“And the same persons been trying to sell it?”

  
“She could’ve taken it over from a previous person, but either way her numbers been on this building for a long time.” Ryuji clicked his tongue against his cheek, wondering if this was even helpful to them at all. It would’ve been nice to get more information on this building from someone in person but if google was all they had, they had to work with it.

  
“Does it say who the previous owner was?” Akechi questioned.

  
“No, just that it closed down due to lack of sales.” Ryuji skimmed over the article in hopes of finding something, but it didn’t have much information on it. He hoped maybe there’d be a public record of the previous owner, and with all the tools on the internet it should be easy to find.

  
They sat in silence for a moment, the blond scrolling through information on his phone while Akechi mentally went over the information they had.

  
“Oh no,” Ryuji mumbled, pulling Akechi from his thoughts. He managed to find something online but the name that came up was not one he was hoping to see.

  
Akechi looked over at him in interest. “What is it?”

  
“Kaneshiro.” Ryuji stated looking up to his partner. “He was the last owner.”

  
A smile grew on the detective’s face at the information. “Now that definitely sounds like we got something.”

  
Ryuji continued scrolling through the site he’d found on his phone, face scrunched in thought. “You think it’s the same Kaneshiro?”

  
“It doesn’t give a first name or picture?” Akechi questioned as he placed himself over Ryuji’s shoulder to get a look at the website. He hummed as the pair read it over, seeing only “Kaneshiro Family” mentioned. “Typically that wouldn’t be enough to make an assumption like that, but I do find it rather peculiar for the same family name not to be connected to one of our cities biggest criminals.”

  
“Yeah but would he really have let this kind of information be out to the public?” Ryuji pointed out.

  
“It’s possible he’s unaware of sites like these. They are a relatively new and not frequently used tool.” Akechi pulled away from the blond, bothered at what they had to work with. “We can always take it down to Futaba and see if she won’t mind verifying the credentials behind that site.”

  
“And then what?” Ryuji asked, putting his phone away.

  
“And then…” The brunette paused as he took in a breath, trying to come up with their next move. “We have to figure out what business Kobayakawa could’ve possibly have had with Kaneshiro.”

  
Ryuji was quiet for a moment, but after taking in a breath he stretched his arms over his head and made an exaggerated yawn. “Welp,” He started, Akechi already deflating at the different attitude he took on. “Hate to be that guy but thinkin’s gonna have to wait cause I gotta pick Hitomi up from ma’s place. I promised I wouldn’t let her be late to work again.”

  
“Ryuji, you remember Captain Sakura only gave us until tomorrow to get concrete evidence on this case, right?”

  
“Yeah, and?” Ryuji shrugged. “You don’t expect me to pick doin’ my job over taking care of my daughter, do you?” Akechi opened his mouth to retort, but found himself at a loss of words. It would be rude to even suggest that he leave his daughter with his mother, but Akechi was really hoping for some second thoughts on this case. “Who said we had to go someplace fancy to think? We can get things done back at my place.”

  
“At…At your place?” Akechi repeated, verifying that he heard correctly. “Where the child will be?”

  
Ryuji cocked an eyebrow at the brunette, almost offended at the way he referred to Hitomi. “The child?” Ryuji bounced back at him. “Really?” Akechi looked as if he was about to apologize for saying that but the blond cut him off. “We’ll order some pizza or something on the way back and knock this out. Hitomi won’t be an issue.” He made the promise like it was something he had control over. “Oh, but you’ll have to pay for the pizza.”

  
Having made up his mind on their plans, Ryuji started to head back towards their undercover car, taking his place in the passengers seat like he always did. Akechi rolled his eyes as he fished the keys out of his pocket, disliking the lack of say in how they would be conducting their research.


End file.
